East Nashville’s next residential step

Created 08/25/2008 - 12:05am

Nashville-based Double A Development will unveil Tuesday evening its plans for the first major Class-A apartment complex in East Nashville.

Double A will show off plans for the 300-unit complex with 25,000 square feet of retail at a neighborhood meeting at East Park Community Center. In all, the developer, who has teamed with a yet to be named Atlanta partner, plans to invest $45 million in the project at 800 Main St.

Adam Leibowitz, a principal in Double A, said he and his Atlanta partner are in discussions with potential money sources for building the project. No zoning change is required to build the density they plan for the site, Leibowitz said.

If built as planned, the development could become another key element in the revitalization of Main Street. Condominium project 5th & Main is reaching its final stages of construction and will soon bring to market more than 120 residential units as well as some street-level retail, including an Otter’s Chicken Tenders location.

“Those two projects are going to help with infill development and adaptive reuse of properties along Main Street,” said Joe Cain, the Metropolitan Development & Housing Agency’s development director.

Eddie Latimer, executive director of Affordable Housing Resources, which got 5th & Main started, said he’s pleased to see the apartment development on Main Street because it both adds to the mix of housing options and brings additional stimulus for redeveloping the area.

Encouraging additional development along Main Street was a goal of the 5th & Main development.

“One thing (the Double A project) does for us is make us feel strongly that we’ve had an impact on the neighborhood,” Latimer said.

The apartment project sits in a redevelopment district. But for now, Double A plans to move forward without tax-increment financing through MDHA.

“We felt like it wasn’t necessary,” Leibowitz said. “We can put affordable units there without TIF.”

Double A bought the site, which houses a former Bank of America processing center, in May from CODA Realty for $3 million. Its plan would be the second attempt at residential on the property. CODA had planned to build condos there but decided to focus on its completed West End Lofts as well as new projects in Belle Meade and Green Hills. The developer had early success in East Nashville with City View Lofts, which helped spur additional condo development along Woodland Street.

Over the past several years, for-sale condos have dominated the new residential product in East Nashville.

“To me, it was a no brainer for a rental project,” Leibowitz said of the Bank of America site. “East Nashville has a pent-up demand for this type of product.”